The translation of
The Instruction of Amen-em-apt is part of my
Ancient Egyptian Readings (2016), a POD publication in paperback
format of all translations available at maat.sofiatopia.org.
These readings span a period of thirteen centuries, covering all
important stages of Ancient Egyptian literature. Translated from
Egyptian originals, they are ordered chronologically and were
considered by the Egyptians as part of the core of their vast
literature.

The study of the sources, hieroglyphs, commentaries and pictures
situating the text itself remain on the website at no cost.

Amenhotep, son of Hapu
XVIIIth Dynasty - Cairo Museum

1. The
source : the Budge Papyrus - BM 10474.2. The person of Amen-em-apt and his time.3. The text of the Instruction of Amen-em-apt.4. Notes.5. Remarks.6. Egyptian sacred literature.7. Egyptian wisdom literature.

1. The source : the Budge Papyrus - BM 10474.

►
discovery and early research
The Instruction of Amen-em-apt (Amenemope
or Amenophis), son of Kanakht, is one of the numerous splendid and important
treasures which Budge, on his first
mission to Egypt, acquired for the (at the time imperial) British Museum
in 1888. The earliest reference to it in print was a vague remark by
Lepage Renouf soon after. As late as 1923 (when the papyrus was first
presented to the public), did the official publication appear in the
second series of Budge's famous Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri
in the British Museum, where the text is photographed (plates 1 - 14),
transcribed into hieroglyphs from the original and translated. In his
commentary, Sir Ernest drew attention to the resemblance of some passages
to sentences in the Book of Proverbs ! Budge's transcription was
deemed by Griffith (1926) "generally very
correct" (p.192). Another authoritative translation of the period was that
done by Erman (1924).

In 1925, Lange published
Das
Weisheitsbuch des Amenemope, but he lacked access to the original
Budge Papyrus and its facsimile had led to misreading. Griffith (1926)
based his work on an examination of the papyrus and he verified the old
readings and obtained new ones. He pointed to certain imperfections in the
facsimile.

Unfortunately, a coherent translation remained far from realized. As the
verbal system of Egyptian (to name one of the important grammatical
discoveries) was refined after the second World War, the philosophy of
Amen-em-apt remained obscure.
Lichtheim
(1976) and Brunner (1991) produced new
translations, which allow the depth of this wisdom to finally surface.

►
literary features
The Instruction of Amen-em-apt is a hieratic text on the twenty-seven
pages of the recto of the Budge Papyrus (measuring just over 12
feet in length and 10 inches in width) and the first line of the verso. It is the oldest extant metric poem with
numbered chapters. The text is arranged in separate lines of poetry, which
is unusual (the oldest example dates from the XIIth Dynasty). There is no
rhyming or definite measures, but poetry is realized by parallelism,
allowing the lines to run through in couplets, grouped in larger divisions
like the triptych and quatrain. Parallelism occurs in several forms :
similarities, elaborations and contrasts. The text is carefully composed
and unified. This through the use of thirty numbered chapters and the
presence of three basic themes : tranquility (heatedness) and honesty
(dishonesty), as well as the power of destiny & fate (i.e. the will of
"the god", "god" or "Lord of All").

As the much older
Instruction of Ptahhotep, the instruction is complete. Small portions
of it were found on a papyrus in Stockholm, three writing tablets in
Turin, Paris and Moscow, and an ostracon in the Cairo Museum. This
variety points to its popularity.

Griffith (1926, p.226) concludes that the script and orthography of Senu
in BM
10474 point to a scribe of the XXVth Dynasty at the earliest, and the reign of
Darius at the latest, whereas the Turin tablets (probably copied from the
papyrus by dictation) cannot be earlier that the Budge Papyrus. The
literary
composition of the work is generally assigned to the Ramesside period (XIX
- XXth Dynasty or ca. 1292 - 1075 BCE), whereas the personality of the
sage invoked is not earlier than the XVIIIth Dynasty. Could it be that
Senu was part of the general "restoration" efforts of the "Ethiopian",
"Nubian" Dynasty (cf. Pharaoh
Shabaka and the
Memphis theology) ? Maybe he was a scribe of the
Saite Dynasty (664 - 525 BCE), and its return to the "old canon" ?

the actual
literary composition : the instruction was written between ca. 1292
- 1075 BCE ;

the person of
Amen-em-apt :
lived (or was projected to live) not earlier than
ca.1539 BCE.

The translation of the text of our
sage proved to be difficult. For Griffith (1926), this was due to the
artificial mode of expression, using rare and poetical words and idioms.
Concise phraseology and few grammatical connectors, short and disconnected
sentences, inexact spelling and scribal errors point to the possibility of
many errors. Half a century later, Lichtheim (1976) added that many
allusions escaped her.

The present translation is that of a philosopher and a dedicated amateur
of things Egyptian. For the love of it, I have tried to stay close to the
original, explaining difficult passages in footnotes. No doubt those more
learned in Egyptian may have reasons to smile.

"Do not erase another's furrow,
it profits You to keep it sound.
Plow your fields and You will find what You need,
You will receive bread from your own threshing-floor."Amen-em-apt, chapter 6:23-26

2 The
person of Amen-em-apt and his time.

►a poetical name & family for a wise man ?

The sage of our instruction is called
Amen-em-apt, son of Kanakht, may have been a contemporary of Amenhotep, son
of Hapu. He could also have been a literary figure used by a wise
Ramesside scribe. Except for "overseer of fields" (1:13) and "scribe who
determined the offerings for all the gods" (1:22), no other of the title
cited by our sage are found on the monuments or papyri ! His titles seem
paraphrases in literary, poetical form.

Let us analyze our sage's poetical name : Amen-em-apt, son of Kanakht,
husband of Tawosre, and father of many children, the youngest being
Hor-em-maakher, the recipient of the wisdom teachings of his father, a
series of living pictures dealing with the "teaching for life", enabling
everybody to receive the greatest gift of god, namely Maat, justice &
truth, nurtured on the Nile over many centuries.

"Amen-em-apt" ("Amun in Karnak") can be found from the XVIIIth Dynasty to Ptolemaic times
(Amenophis or Amenemope). It
appears that several wise men of Egypt bore this name : "Amenemopi",
author of some proverbs written on the back of the Budge Papyrus,
"Amenhotep, son of Hapu", a learned scribe and counselor of Amenhotep III,
and our "Amen-em-apt, son of Kanakht".

"Apt" ("ipt") means "count,
calculate, reckon". The name "Amen-em-apt", ending with the determinative
of "place" (O1), is suggestive of the controller of the measure and
recorder of the markers on the borders of the fields mentioned in the
prologue.

"Kanakht" or "Strong Bull" is unusual as a name, but a regular part of
Pharaoh's Horus name throughout the New Kingdom. "Tawosre" ("the powerful") is frequent in the XVIIIth Dynasty and
born by a queen of the XIXth, consort of Pharaoh Seti II. In the New Kingdom, "Hor-em-maakher" or
"Horus of the Horizon" (Harmachis), was identified with the sphinx at Giza,
looking toward the eastern horizon. The name dates as far back as the
XIIth Dynasty, and seems to appear in the Saite period as well as in early
Ptolemaic documents.

►the political situation at the time of Amen-em-apt

Politically, the New
Kingdom brought internationalization, which defied the particularism
of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. From Myceanae, Knossos, Mitanni,
Babylon, and from the Hittites, Assyrians, Libyans & Nubians gifts &
trade goods were flowing in. The XVIIIth & XIXth Dynasties produced
great monuments of theocratic statesmanship.

The reign of Amenhotep III was a period of stability and peace, the
foundations of which had been laid by
Tuthmosis IV, who had brought to end decades of military conflict
between the two great powers of the era, Egypt and the kingdom of
Mitanni, that struggled concerning control over northern Syria. The
court of Amenhotep III became an international center visited by
ambassadors of many nations. Even Asiatic deities such as Reshef,
Astarte, Baal and Qudshu were worshipped. Luxurious living in a setting of peace reached its climax
under Amenhotep III. He never set foot in his Asiatic empire but
acquired princesses for his harem and lavished gold on his allies.

The age of empire did not focus on power, wealth and luxury only. The
intellectual horizon had also broadened. Curiosity and tolerance for
foreigners rose. Scribes had to be bilingual and foreign languages
were fashionable. Especially religious thinking had been affected by
this internationalism.

The temple of Luxor, the
double temple of Soleb and Sedeinga (Nubia) and the mortuary temple at the
West bank of Thebes (destroyed by an earthquake, leaving the 720 tons
Colossi of Memnon, suggesting the original size of the building and
Pharaoh's megalomania) all witness that Amenhotep III was one of the
greatest builders Egypt had known. He strove to surpass his predecessors
in number, size and splendour of his buildings. He also used unusual
building materials like gold, silver, lapis lazuli, jasper, turquoise,
bronze and copper and noted the exact weights of each, in order to capture
"the weight of this monument".

"By the thirteenth year of the reign, with Nubia
stabilized and the vast empire at peace, Egypt was at the height of its
wealth and power. The rule of Amenhotep III saw four decades of prosperity
uninterrupted by war ; for the people of Egypt it was a time of
unparalleled security and optimism - a golden age presided over by a
golden king. To Amenhotep's grateful subjects it must have seemed that
this success proved that he was at one with the gods themselves."Fletcher,
2000, p.76.
Amenhotep III celebrated his Sed-festival in his thirtieth regal year.
Many dated inscriptions are preserved on vessels from his palace at
el-Malqata, on the West bank of Thebes. He celebrated two repetitions of
this festival before his death. Japanese excavations uncovered a podium
for a throne. It has thirty steps, which stand for the thirty years that
had gone by. The festival was clearly a repetition of the coronation. In
it, he called himself "the Dazzling Sun" and at his side his chief wife,
Teye, played the role of Hathor, who stood for all aspects of rejuvenation
& regeneration. During the festival, Amenhotep III endeavored to gather
all the deities of the Two Lands to perform its ceremonies in front of
the shrines containing their various divine images ... He is also seen
worshipping and offering to himself as a god !

"The importance of the Aten grew throughout
Amenhotep III's long reign. In the last decade of his rule the king even
officially identified himself as the sun god the Aten."
Fletcher, 2000, p.61.

What we know of Amenhotep III proves that he was not an
"enlightened" ruler, but that he instead stayed deeply rooted in
traditional piety.
Although the New Solar Theology was active around him, he prevented
this single god (Re) from gaining the upper hand. Large scarabs
connect him with numerous deities.

The story goes that the aged & sick Pharaoh (who had
received from the king of Mitanni a healing statue of Ishtar) commissioned
(instead of asking Ishtar) a total of 730 (2 x 365) statues of the
Lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, consort of Ptah, she who dispensed illness and its cure.
He
set up this Litany in Stone in various temples at Thebes to protect him
day & night. Clearly Amenhotep III did not want to promote Re and his
physical disk, the Aten, alone !

"There were definitely tendencies -and not only at
the royal court- that ran counter to the New Solar Theology and its
elevation of a single god over the entire pantheon in a manner that was
altogether too one-sided and, in that respect, un-Egyptian." - Hornung,
1999, p.20.

The
Instruction of Amen-em-aptAmen-em-apt, son of Kanakht for his son Hor-em-maakher

This
translation is based on all mentioned previous translations by Griffith, Lange,
Lichtheim & Brunner as well as on the
hieroglyphic transcription of the hieratic by Lange and Griffith.

The translation of The
Instruction of Amen-em-apt is part of my
Ancient Egyptian Readings (2016), a POD publication in paperback
format of all translations available at maat.sofiatopia.org. These
readings span a period of thirteen centuries, covering all important
stages of Ancient Egyptian literature. Translated from Egyptian originals,
they are ordered chronologically and were considered by the Egyptians as
part of the core of their vast literature.

The study of the sources, hieroglyphs, commentaries and pictures situating
the text itself remain on the website at no cost.

05 It is no crime in the hand of the god,113
06 {If the sailor does not welcome You.}114 XXVII

Chapter 30 : Epilogue

01 Look to these thirty chapters :02 they inform, they educate,03 they are the foremost of all books,04 they make the ignorant wise.11505 If they are read to the ignorant,06 he is cleansed through them.07 Be filled with them, put them in your heart,08 and become a man who interprets them,09 one who explains as a teacher.10 The scribe who is skilled in his office,11 is found worthy to be a courtier."116

ColophonThat is its end.
Written by Senu, son of the divine father Pemu.XXVIII

4. Notes.(1) the "shrine" of the heart is the sacred place of
the "inner god", a concept developed in the Late New Kingdom, when personal
piety became fully part of Egypt's cultural form (cf.
Hymns
to Amun) - by entering its "shrine", the heart (mind, desire, will) is
brought before the god, enabling the latter to dwell in the person - although
this instruction also develops old themes such as good discourse (cf.
Ptahhotep), the spiritual and religious dimensions
are more emphasized ; (2) "wDt" (wedjat) or left, wounded & restored Eye of
Horus, here confused with the (right)
Eye of Re - the
Horus-eye fractions (or geometric progression of six terms : 1:2, 1:4, 1:8,
1:32, 1:64) were used in all kinds of measurements ;(3) "kmt", or fertile "Black Land" left after the Nile withdraws, also a name
for Egypt as a whole ;(4) this is the only plural use of the word "nTr",
"god" in the instruction, namely in a title ;(5) unclear word, but most translators agree the reference to someone bringing
food ;(6) Ta-wer is the nome of Abydos ;(7) Ipu is a name for Akhmin (Panopolis, on the east bank of the Nile) ;(8) Senu is a name for Akhmin - "west of Senu" suggests a place away from the
main cemeteries (the cliffs of the eastern desert), possibly on the other side
of the river ;(9) the god Min, who is the "Bull of his Mother" ("kmtf") ;(10) "wnnfr", the "good being" or Osiris ;(11) unclear but reconstructed - cf. Griffith's rendering (p.198, note 4) as
"pHr", "go round" plus determinative for visual activity D6 = guard ;(12) following Griffith : "Snw" or inquiry (Faulkner) plus D6 = watch ;(13) open your mind and leave all prejudices behind You ;(14) memorize them to have them at your disposal whenever You need them ;(15) the depth of your emotional, passionate nature needs to know them too -
feel them ; (16) so that they become firm, steady and fully assimilated and integrated ;(17) speech should serve the mind and the instructions make one stop idle talk ;(18) if your organize your life with these instructions in mind ;(19) "TA" or "snatch, seize" (Lichtheim) the "mouth" is the Egyptian text, "mouth" being
a paraphrase for "word" ;(20) the god Thoth ;(21) "the hands of the god" : or direct divine interference - god will decide
what happens with the evil person - give the wicked your hand, so that he be
committed into divine hands - "the god" and "god" are used interchangeably and
the definite article has no bearing on meaning but is a matter of style ;(22) the mind and will of god ;(23) god is cognitive and able to communicate without being directly known ;(24) the personalization of everything evil and wicked ;(25) "mxnt" or "face" plus determinative for place and interior (O1) and
juxtaposition with line 4:08 "grown in a meadow" (i.e. outdoors) suggests
"indoors" (Lichtheim) ; (26) "Srtm" or the "green" product of trees, or "shoots" (Lichtheim) ;(27) "mxr" or "barn, granary, storehouse" - storehouse for wood, or "woodshed"
(Lichtheim) ;(28) a person working in the temple ;(29) the might of Thoth ;(30) for Griffith, "Lord" refers to god - I assume it stands for "Pharaoh" - god
is pleased when the borders of the fields are kept intact - Pharaoh's might
guarantees their regularity ;(31) occurs twice and refers to the unnamed deity ("god" and "the god") ;(32) the small things of god are better than the big results through crime ;(33) to be poor, but in tune with divine action, is better than to have material
abundance saved away ;(34) a state of being in harmony with the plan of god ; (35) focus not to be rich, do not aim at material abundance, do not fixate your
mind on wealth ;(36) Shay : the personification of the idea of destiny and god of life-span,
fate & fortune, who, in the Ptolemaic Period, was identified with
"Agathodaimon", the Hellenistic fortune-telling serpent deity ;
Renenet : in the Old Kingdom, "Renenutet" ("rnnwtt") was a goddess of the
harvest and a divine nurse ("rnnt"), but also a guardian of the king identified
with the royal uraeus and Pharaoh's "robe" ; in the New Kingdom Litany of Re,
this goddess appears in the underworld as the "Lady of Justification", and in
the Late Period, she decides many of the events in an individual's life ;(37) do not strive to achieve things outside, for what must happen happens ;(38) "dwAt" or netherworld ; (39) determinative U13 for "plough" and O1 (place) ;(40) the physical disk of the Sun, the Sole God of
Akhenaten
;(41) address the emotional part of man with goodness, i.e. be calm, kind &
gentle - the belly is the home of our passions, emotions, feelings and states of
arousal & rest - our sage promotes tranquility ;(42) the goddess Wadjet was associated with the red crown of Lower Egypt (Nile
Delta) and belonged to the "two ladies" or "two goddesses" name of Pharaoh's
titulary, the other goddess being Nekhbet, associated with the white crown of
Upper Egypt - Wadjet is commonly identified with the Uraeus-serpent, but Nekhbet
at times abandons her appearance as a vulture for that of a serpent, hence the
plural ; (43) the symbol for all manifest and active evil, mastered by Seth (for Re and
as a punishment for having killed Osiris, defiled and fought his son Horus) ; (44) harmless speech does not make the heart heavy and so at divine judgment in
the afterlife, the balance will be in equilibrium and the heart will be
"restored" instead of being "eaten", resulting in a "second death" (represented
by men on their head eating filth) ;(45) do not show your negative emotions - do not expose your own filth ; (46) "Tfdn" or "rage" (Pyr. § 1553a) - here : "offend" (Lichheim) or somewhat
stronger "vex" ;(47) when reproached, rebuffed or criticized, only the strong remain calm ;(48) "before" or "over" water (Lichtheim) ;(49) the creator god, the potter who made human beings out of clay ;(50) the line is corrupt - literally it reads : "so as to make him burn name
(and) knead hearts"- the plural of "ib", "heart" may refer to a plurality of
intentional states, hence : "states of mind" ;(51) he crouches preparing to spring (Griffith) ;(52) his emotions & passions are constantly in a state of arousal ;(53) You injure your state of mind - violence directly affects mentality ;(54) while You are in an emotional state of fear and anxiety ;(55) truthful speech ("maati") is the foundation of Egyptian philosophy ; (56) always say what You think ; (57) god will bless the honest ;(58) falsehood is absolutely rejected ;(59) he who puts his mind to serve aroused negative emotions ;(60) his passions have taken the best of him ; (61) "TA" or "snatch, seize" the "mouth" is the Egyptian text, "mouth" being a
paraphrase for "word" ;(62) to utter untruth is bad, but falsehood written down is even worse ;(63) do make people remember how good You are ;(64) one does not need to help destiny and fate to do their job ;(65) "wnu" plus determinative for "sit" (A3), or : "the being I am" ;(66) the sacred animal of Thoth, god of the scribes, the Ibis has a curled beak
just as the finger holding the pen ;(67) the Ape or Thoth again, dwells in his town, namely Hermopolis Magna
("Khnum") ;(68) the unity of Upper (Southern) and Lower (Northern) Egypt ;(69) the most used instrument in Ancient Egyptian economy, both in this life and
in the afterlife ;(70) the Ape sits on top of the balance of judgment in the afterlife - Anubis
checks the plummet and Thoth records the results ;(71) the Ape has only the correctness of the balancing in mind ;(72) the epithet "great, great, great" is of later date and was
Hellenized as Hermes Trice Greatest or
Hermes trismegistos - the question posed already points to
this superlative greatness of Thoth ;(73) cheating will always be discovered and reap disaster ; (74) again we are pointed to the active participation of god in what happens in
life ;(75) god is omniscient, he sees all and hence "the world is before his face" ;(76) do not put on more weight, nor take weight out by carving pieces out of the
inside of the weights ;(77) the Eye of Re sees the smallest error ;(78) the taxes to be paid to Pharaoh ;(79) the small work of the farmer is greater in might than splendid oaths in the
name of Pharaoh ;(80) there is no imperfection in god, but failure in man ;(81) again god appears as an active force in the world ;(82) to god belongs the last say in everything and to him alone belongs the
right to react on wrongs ;(83) if god is perfect, then everything "before" him is imperfect ;(84) here the distinction between "heart" as a physical organ
(determinative F51 "limb, flesh" and "heart" as an
intentional state (mind, desire, will, individuality, motoric control) is
explicit ;(85) do not move in life on the basis of what You said or say to other people ;(86) even if we think that what we say causes our life to take form, in reality
it is god who is in charge ;(87) a unity of government often serving as the crown's liaison to the
"djadjet", the assembly of nomarchs or hereditary lords of the provinces ; (88) order, justice and truth are the greatest gifts of god, sustaining the
cosmos as a whole ;(89) divination is a holy activity, not to be used to satisfy the whims of
individuals ;(90) do not assume god forms to change things (magic) without considering the
decrees of destiny ;(91) if You desire the goods of wealthy people, do not say this in their own
houses ;(92) although oracular divination is acknowledged, the large majority does not know the
will of god ;(93) trust in god's plan ;(94) give way to emotional & passionate states of arousal ;(95) one who no longer holds any secrets - one who says what is on his mind ;(96) one who gives way to his strong emotions but does not hurt is preferred to one
who's feelings hurt ; (97) "qmA" or "create" (Faulkner) - the act of creation is perfection ;(98) for nobody knows what tomorrow brings ;(99) do not raise your voice or You will be sad ;(100) mindfulness is the proper attitude ;(101) one who is insane ;(102) man was created by god ;(103) when he has decided to do so ;(104) the land of the dead ;(105) Re is celestial creator-god who sees all ;(106) dry and harsh - Lichtheim has "bristles" ;(107) a panoramic perspective allows one to steer away from dangers ;(108) he was born before You ;(109) at morning prayers ;(110) a dog obeys he who feeds him ;(111) Lichtheim has "pounce" ;(112) if there is enough room ;(113) there is no abomination for You to suffer from god ;(114) "hwtii" as "sailor" : even if the sailor does not welcome it, help with
the rowing if asked to do so ;(115) "rx" plus det."things written" (Y1) and det."sit" (A3) or "wise, learned
man" (Faulkner) ;(116) this instruction is typical for the scribe who will be promoted as soon as
he excels.

5. Remarks.

► the culmination of the wisdom genreAll instructions are composed in a rhythmical style,
marked by symmetrical sentences, called the "orational style" (Lichtheim,
1976, p.98). When needed, as in the assassination narrative of the
Instruction of Amenemhat, it turns into prose or
becomes poetical, as in the hymn to the creator-god in the Instruction
addressed to Merikare. But these features are not the reason for the
excellence of Amen-em-apt's wisdom teaching.

"He has put aside the commonplaces of advice, and whole
regions of moral warning are left untouched ; but he draws on his personal
experience as an administrator of land to teach certain lessons that he
wished to impress upon his son, and at the same time set up a higher standard
of morality than his predecessors who are known to us had done. The
description of the book in the Preface promises both success in life and moral
welfare to the obedient listener ; in other Egyptian teachings the practical
overshadows the spiritual, but in Amenophis' teaching religion and morality
are the chief motives."Griffith,
1926, p.227, my italics.
All Egyptian wisdom instructions envisioned an "ideal man" (Lichtheim,
1976, p.146). Already in the wisdom discourse of
Ptahhotep, he lacked all martial characteristics. The Egyptian sage was a
man of peace, constructive and generous with his wealth. If the Old Kingdom sage
was still very aware of Pharaoh and his position in society, Amen-em-apt is
content with a humble position and modest material means. Instead, inner
qualities are promoted : self-control, tranquility, kindness towards others &
honesty are opposed to "the heated" man, who vents his passions and emotions
without self-mastery, and is inclined to evil, in particular dishonesty.

The teaching divides "inner" & "outer". Man walks in the outer world and finds
that fate and destiny, i.e. the physical manifestation of the will of the deity,
rule everything. People may say what they like ; at the end of the day the
oracle of the deity decides. The sage accepts this wholeheartedly, for he knows
that the plans of the deity are not to be crossed. The shrine of his heart is
the temple of the "inner" deity, and his ways are thus in accord with the plans
of the deity.

He has mastered the "inner" conflict between his passions and his mind, namely
between the icons of emotions and the symbols of proto-rational cognition,
between "belly" and "heart". This Platonic division "avant la lettre" (cf.
Plato's two horses and the later Stoic "apatheia") is the fundamental
existential tension and if badly managed the first cause of moral evil,
namely a twisted mind, heated passions and unwholesome actions that make one
strand in life and prepare for oneself the wrath of the deity in the afterlife.
God abhors falsehood, heatedness and dishonesty. All of this, of course, in the
ante-rational mode of cognition.

► the deity of Amen-em-apt

Was our sage a monotheist ? Besides the repetition of
words as "the god", "god" & "the Lord of All", the teaching also invokes
separate deities such as : Re, the Eye of Re, Thoth, Khnum, Shay, Renenet, the
Aten, the Uraei-serpents, the Apophis snake, Maat, as well as unspecified divine
activities (giving, building, planning, directing, etc.) and functions (the
hands of god, the arm of god, the might of god, etc.). Thoth is invoked several
times (the Ape, the Moon), and the question is asked where the deities as great
as he are ! As in Late New Kingdom
Amun-theology, the
deities are manifestations, appearances & transformations of the "nameless god",
one & millions.

Amen-em-apt is not a monotheist, but a henotheist. God is One in essence but
millions in manifestation. The Divine powers are specialized manifestations of
the same One god, and a "Solar" signature may be attributed to his company :

Re : the "old" creator-god from afar ;Aten : the physical face of Re ;Thoth : the power of the written & spoken word, the recorder of the balance,
vizier of Re ;Maat : truth and justice - the order of creation - daughter of Re ;Knum : the maker of mankind, controller of the inundation of the Nile - soul of
Re ;Shay & Renenet : the manifestation of the plan of god in human affairs,
functions of Thoth ;the Uraei-serpents : the might of Pharaoh, son of Re ;the Apophis serpent : the assailer of Re, mastered by Seth.The compositional excellence of this company, in tune
with the "New Solar Theology" of its time, but not balancing to any un-Egyptian
exclusivity, gives this instruction a literary unity which underlines the
henotheist choice of our sage. Monotheism can not be read into this, for sage
Amen-em-apt still thinks constellational, albeit in an exclusively Solar
fashion. Moreover, this choice is an integral and meaningful part of the
literary structure of the text. The Lord of All is beyond, but not against
the other deities, i.e. opposed to independent manifestations of himself
("jealous" as the Old Testament would have it). The great One god
remained hidden and unnamed. They were his active powers, his theophanies.

Besides the Solar inspiration, Amen-em-apt's "company of gods" reflects a
cognitive component. This was part of all known Egyptian instructions, but here
the role of Thoth is clearly underlined. The "might of the Moon" & the Ape of
Hermopolis (the only city in the teaching) also point to the god of time,
healing, medicine, writing and magic. Were the deities Shay & Renenet part of
this Hermopolitan thought strand ? They ruled an individual's life-span and well
as the events that happened in it. Conceptually at least, they fall under the
category of time, ruled by Thoth, who is also the "Master of Maat".

This allows us to divide this company in two sides : cosmic & mental :

cosmic : Re, Aten, Maat, Khnum, Uraei-serpents ;

mental : Thoth, Shay & Renenet.

It should be remarked that in the Alexandro-Egyptian
philosophical Hermetica, the same division operates,
namely as the distinction between God (the Sun, the Decad) and Hermes (the
Divine Nous, the Ennead).

► the heart of Amen-em-apt
To the traditional use of the word "ib" ("heart"), namely "will, desire, mind,
motor control, direction" and its various intentional states, is added the dimension of personal piety, for the
"inner god" abides in the shrine of the heart (Prologue, line 9). The sage is a spiritual person,
who communicates with his god "in his mind". Besides his high moral standards of
action, he confirms the importance of a personal experience of divinity. This
goes hand in hand with the "noetic" quality of the teaching's pantheon.

In 18:16 (using as determinative F51), the physical heart is clearly
distinguished from the intentional states which it represents, such as
cogitation, volition & motor control (the peripheral pulses were thought to
reflect the beating of the heart, caused by air -
Nunn, 1996).

► Amen-em-apt and the "words of the
wise" in the Book of
Proverbs
The remark of Budge pertaining to the influence of the teaching on Jewish
religious literature was taken up and confirmed by Erman, Sethe, Griffith &
Simpson (1926). Lichtheim (1976) speaks of a
consensus among scholars that there is no priority of the Hebrew text, nor a
common lost Semitic text, but a "literary relationship" between the teaching of
Amen-em-apt and the Book of Proverbs (the oldest part of which is dated
ca.920 BCE, namely chapters 10 to 24). She writes : "it
can hardly be doubted that the author of Proverbs was acquainted with the
Egyptian work and borrowed from it". Especially Proverbs line
22:21 speaks in that sense, and introduces the Hebrew section on the "words of
the wise" : "I have written down thirty sayings for you.
They contain knowledge and good advice and will teach you what the truth really
is. They when you are sent to find it out, you will bring back the right
answer".

Indeed, the proposed literary relationship is most prominent & direct in that
section of Proverbs called (in the Massoretic, traditional Hebrew text)
"the words of the wise." (chapters 22:17 - 24:22). Here the "remarkable
similarity of ideals and ideas" are closest and most numerous, although Simpson
remarks that the Hebrew text is less fresher and vigorous, as if in Proverbs
the teaching returns in an abbreviated form.
Gressman (1925), found a literal "thirty" proverbs in this section of the
Hebrew book of Proverbs, and the inference that it was ultimately derived
from Amen-em-apt's teaching "would appear to be irresistible".

We invite the
reader to read this wisdom section of the Proverbs (22:17 - 24:22,
composed ca.920 BCE) and savor the following correspondences :

"The Lord kills and restores to life ;
he sends people to the world of the dead
and brings them back again.
He makes some poor and others rich;
he humbles some and makes others great.
He lifts the poor from the dust
and raises the needy from their misery."1 Samuel, 2:6ff"Happy are those
who reject the advice of evil people,
who do not follow the example of sinners;
or join those who have no use for God.
Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord,
and they study it day and night.
They are like trees that grow beside a stream,
that bear fruit at the right time,
and whose leaved do not dry up.
They succeed in everything they do.
But evil people are not like this at all ;
they are like straw that the wind blows away.
Sinners will be condemned by God
and kept apart from God's own people.
The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord,
but the evil are on the way to their doom.Psalm 1"Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God
or be pure before his Creator ?
God does not trust his heavenly servants ;
he finds faults even with his angels.
Do you think he will trust a creature of clay,
a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth ?
Someone may be alive in the morning
but die unnoticed before evening comes.
All that he has is taken away,
he dies, still lacking wisdom."Book of Job, 4:17-20

"The Lord says :
'I will condemn those who turn away from me
and put their trust in human beings,
in the strength of mortals.
They are like bushes in the desert,
which grow in the dry wilderness,
on salty ground where nothing else grows.
Nothing good ever happens to them.
But I will bless those who put their trust in me.
They are like trees growing near a stream,
and sending out roots to the water.
They are not afraid when hot weather comes,
because their leaves stay green ;
they have no worries when there is no rain ;
they keep on bearing fruit."Jeremiah, 17:5-8.
The influence of Egyptian wisdom teachings on the religious literature of Israel
is part of the larger context of the interaction between these two
civilizations. We know that it was during the Ramesside age that the tribes of
Israel became a nation, and much of Israel's knowledge of Egypt, as reflected in
their literature, resulted from contacts with this period. Although these contacts will be the object of a separate study, let us
briefly discuss the foundational event of Israel's history : the Exodus.

Historians are far from unanimous concerning the date of the Exodus, the flight
of the Jews from the "house of bondage". The "low" hypothesis, situates this
founding event in the middle of the fifteenth or sixteenth century BCE, the
"high" hypothesis places it in the thirteenth century. Various arguments have
been advanced to evidence both positions, but archaeological findings in
Canaanite territory as well as biblical chronology (for example the 480 years
between the construction of the Temple of Solomon and the Exodus) proved to be
inconclusive. As the nature of biblical sources is not historiographic but
ideological and etiological, its chronology is seriously in doubt and can not be
used.

In line with Modrzejewski (1995), I adhere to
the "low" hypothesis on the basis of a single chronological indication furnished
by the biblical account which converges with historical data. In Exodus
1:11, we read : "So the Egyptians put slave-drivers over
them to crush their spirits with hard labour. The Israelites built the cities
of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centers for the king." (my
italics). This reference is to the new capital of Pharaoh Rameses II (ca.1279 -
1213 BCE), called "Per-Ramesses" (Pa-Ramesses, Peramesse, Piramesse), "the
Estate of Ramesses". If we take the biblical account seriously, Pharaoh Rameses
II was the "new king, who knew nothing about Joseph" (Exodus, 1:8).

This city was a suburban territory of the ancient capital of the Hyksos, Avaris.
Its formal name was "the House of Ramesses, Beloved of Amun, Great of
Victories". Its splendor and vitality was great. A large palace, private
residences, temples, military garrisons, a harbor, gardens and a vineyard were
designed for it. It was the largest and costliest city of Egypt. The original
royal palace covered four square miles. Abandoned at the end of the XXth
Dynasty, many of its monuments were transported to the nearby city of Tanis.

Another important historical element is the twelve-line poem that ends the
famous Stele of Pharaoh Merneptah (ca.1213 - 1203 BCE), the son of Rameses II,
also known as the "Stele of Israel" or the "Poetical Stele". In this poem, we
read : "Israel is wasted, his seed is bare." The text of the stele celebrates
the victories of Pharaoh over the Libyans, and in this brief poetical epilogue
sums up the submission of the diverse "Asiatic peoples", with "iisriAr"
listed before the Khor (Palestine and part of Syria).

"The princes are prostrate, saying : 'Peace !'
Among the Nine Bows (the nations) none raised his head.
Devastated is Tjehenu (Libya), Khatti at peace.
Canaan is captive with every evil.
Carried off is Ashkelon ; seized upon is Gezer.
Yanoam is made as that which does not exist.Israel is wasted, his seed is bare.
Widowed is Khor before Egypt.
All who roamed have been subdued,
by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Banere-meramun,
Son of Re, Merneptah, Content with Maat,
given life like Re every day."Stele of Merneptah, final poem.
To "iisriAr", sounding something like "eesrah-er", a special
determinative was added (T14), indicating the Israelites were a foreign
people, a community of wanderers, not a territory or a nation (for which
another determinative was used - N25). Furthermore, the determinative for many
men and women was added, underlining that Israel was not a nation state.
The Israelites were not yet settled in the land of Canaan. The Merneptah Stele
dates from the fifth year of the king's reign, i.e. ca. 1208 BCE. At that time,
Moses had already left Egypt, crossed the desert and joined other groups of
Hebrews. But the "promised land" had not yet been conquered, while Pharaoh
Merneptah claimed to have wasted Israel's seed ...

"When all is said and done, the date of 1270 appears to be
the best possible hypothesis for their departure from the land of Egypt." -
Modrzejewski,
1995, p.16.

The Rammesside Exodus Theory is open to criticism.
It has been proposed that the lack of evidence using this model to support a
historical Exodus is because the whole story of the Jews in Egypt needs to be
placed much earlier. Josef's Pharaoh would have been XIIth Dynasty Amenemhat III
(ca. 1818 - 1773) and the end of the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1759) would have been
caused by the destruction of Egypt as the result of the weakening of the kingdom
by the 10 biblical plagues (under Amenemhat IV, the Pharaoh of Moses ?). These
would have ended the Golden Age and prompted foreigners to try to invade the
country (cf. the Hyksos around 1630).